Melbourne High win at State Rowing Championships

For those who have seen the photos already on Facebook I apologise as this is coming from my blog – It is a more comprehensive post though with more links and video. The State Rowing Championships are a big deal in Victoria, eclipsed only by the nationals in Sydney which will occur in two weeks.

Our entire senior crew comprising year 11 and 12 boys, or rather young men, balance an arduous training regime against an even more demanding academic schedule in their last two years of high school.

Joe, who like most of the Melbourne High students only took up rowing after joining the school has been fortunate enough to have rowed with fellow students who have become close friends as they share the commitment, camaraderie and resilience required to succeed in the sport at this level. When this is coupled with a world class dedicated coaching staff, magic happens.

Having seen the progression and development of all crew members over the season, even I wasn’t prepared for the close and successful race against older boys (men) in the under 21 coxed fours race. The closeness of the race, especially at the final stages as can be seen from this YouTube clip shows what a great race it was – especially considering our boys had been beaten by the Barwon crew two weeks earlier.

In a following race which more closely reflected the boys ages, Joe’s crew pulled away from Gippsland Grammar to win convincingly after a close and friendly rivalry had developed over the season. It was great to see both crews congratulating each other after their medal presentation.

Not to be left out of the medal tally, our crew of 8 picked up a bronze in their race, moving from fourth to third through the race which was held in choppy conditions on Lake Wendouree in historical and picturesque Ballarat.

Hi Dennis,
Great to hear from you!
They go to the rowing nationals in Sydney in two weeks and I will be there to take more photographs. The boys row against schools in Adelaide, Sydney and sometimes Sri Lanka. The current Captain of Boats has done training in the US and being originally from the US may end up there studying and rowing. I don’t think any of our boys in recent years at least have rowed in the UK Henley, but of course there are a number of “Henley” regattas here in Victoria along with that famous Henley on Todd in Alice Springs which many of our rowers didn’t know about.